


jenga!

by agenderenjy



Category: Preacher
Genre: Gen, but i know these two are probably ridiculously competitive and stupid, i don't know what this is, platonic jessidy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 09:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7217383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agenderenjy/pseuds/agenderenjy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Jesse and Cassidy play Jenga, both of them are dead-set on winning, and <i>someone's</i> a cheat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	jenga!

**Author's Note:**

> I and some others were discussing how great it would be for these two to play a game together, preferably while drunk. This is what happened. There is art of this [here](http://stonerudy.tumblr.com/post/145992763637/is-it-1-am-or-pm-we-may-never-know-inspired-by)!!

The Jenga tower between Jesse and Cassidy was not the first one they had built that night, but both had long ago lost count of how many they'd gone through, just as they'd lost count of how many glasses and bottles of whiskey they'd emptied.

When they'd started playing Emily had been with them, but she had given up on them some time ago. The tipping point for her, it can only be assumed, was when Cassidy irately jumped up from his seat and accused Jesse of being "a cheating little shite" for (allegedly) using two hands to remove a block.

Jesse, naturally, had to defend his honor and deny any foul play - to which protestations Cassidy had only repeated his accusation, and with a slight but unmissable emphasis on "little," meaning that Jesse had _absolutely no choice_ but to ask why he said it like that. Cass had two, maybe three, inches on him, Jesse had reminded him, and maybe in Ireland it was okay to bring a man's height into an argument, but not in America, damn it, not in Texas, and -

And Emily had thrown her hands up, literally raised them into the air, and got up from the table. "Y'all are worse than my nine year-old," she had said, entirely disgusted. "I'm goin' home."

The pure disapproval emanating from the woman was enough to make both the preacher and the vampire fall silent as though ashamed. Emily grabbed her keys from the counter by the coffee machine and left through the kitchen door with a final, "Good night, _boys_ " thrown scornfully behind her. 

Once the door was closed behind her, Jesse looked back at Cassidy, who was still standing. "Look, let's act our age Cass. We'll have a rematch, settle this like men."

Cassidy took a swig of whiskey straight from the bottle before sitting back down across from Jesse. "Alright, fine. Cheater," he tacked on under his breath. Jesse chose to ignore it.

That had been...some time ago. The hands of the kitchen clock were edging closer and closer to one. The tabletop was clean save for the Jenga tower; for the structure's maximum safety they had kept the empty bottles (four or five by now) on the floor and the ones they were still working on in their laps or by their feet. Both Cassidy and Jesse were sitting a little unsteadily in their chairs due to a mixture of alcohol and sleep deprivation.

During Cassidy 's turn Jesse leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. He had passed through the hilarity stage of tiredness and was approaching the state wherein everything is of the utmost solemnity. He opened his eyes again to see Cassidy still wiggling a block free from the middle of the now-skeletal tower. It waved warningly. 

"Careful, Cass. You're gonna knock it down."

"Shut up, you bastard, you're gonna fuckin' jinx me," Cass snapped, eyes fixed on the task at hand. With a quick jerk he pulled the rest of the brick out of its spot. The tower shook more dramatically this time and both full-grown men held their breath for a good ten seconds, awaiting the crash. 

It didn't come and Cassidy jumped back up to his feet, crowing triumphantly. He threw the block in a moment of unthinking pride; it flew over Jesse's head and hit the pantry door. 

"Watch it," Jesse said. He leaned toward the table again just as Cass' celebration brought his hip dangerously close to the playing surface. "Don't jostle the damn table, Cass." 

Cassidy dropped to a squat, putting his chin and hands on the edge of the table. "I'm not, padre, calm down. Just want a good view of you about to get fucked." (Which might have sounded a bit odd had either of them been anywhere near sober, or paying attention to anything besides the precariously-balanced tower between them.)

Jesse, however, had no intention of getting fucked. He meant to win. He moved to the very edge of his chair and examined the tower with an intensity and focus typically reserved for scientists staring into petri dishes. He tapped tentatively at the ends of a few different blocks. None yielded easily - meaning that he had to be very careful to avoid proving Cass right.

Unconsciously holding his breath, Jesse reached with two fingers for a block wedged in near the top of the tower. The kitchen was entirely silent, with even Jesse and Cass' breathing nearly inaudible. Cass' eyes were wide, his mouth pulled into a stupidly comical O. An onlooker might have thought something heavy, something life changing, was hinged on the outcome of this moment. Depending on the importance the onlooker placed on pride, it could be said that there was.

The silence held as Jesse patiently worked the block free. The tower stayed relatively still as he worked. All but a centimeter or so remained stuck between two other bricks before calamity struck.

The silence ended with the game. The tower fell in a confused commotion and noise interrupted in the room. 

Bricks scattered over the table and bounced on the floor. Jesse and Cassidy were immediately on their feet, Cassidy throwing his hands up above his head like he was being arrested. 

"Motherfuck - You shook the table!" Saying Jesse was enraged would be an overstatement, but not much of one. 

Cassidy took a step back with his hands still in the air. "I did no such thing! How could you accuse me of cheatin'? I would _never_ \- "

Jesse kicked (or tripped over) an empty whiskey bottle. "You're a damn hypocrite, Cassidy. And a liar, don't you think I couldn't feel you move the table? No wonder you were hanging on to it like that, damn you."

Cassidy was already speaking over him, his brogue alternately becoming louder and then quieter than the preacher's drawl, which was becoming more and more pronounced as he yelled. Neither was exactly eloquent in their accusations or defenses - identical arguments for and against Cassidy's honor were repeated several times each.

The argument concluded with Jesse tossing a handful of Jenga bricks at Cassidy before storming out of the room. Cassidy shouted a last insult at Jesse's back as he left.

In the morning, Jesse cleaned the mess they'd made up, wincing from the pain in his head every time he leaned over to pick something up. Cassidy was still dead asleep, for which Jesse was incredibly grateful - he wasn't sure he could handle anything but silence with the hangover he had. 

He did not appreciate it when the door slammed open a lot louder than was necessary and Emily walked in looking like a person who had gotten plenty of sleep and a shower, which was the kind of person that, right now, Jesse had to remind himself not to hate. 

"Looks like you two had fun," she said brightly. 

Jesse chose not to reply. Emily was undeterred. 

"Who won?"

Jesse glared at her. "I did."

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr @pcassidys if you'd like! Also, apologies if the mentions of drinking/being hungover are weird or inaccurate.


End file.
